In Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites? Eli Siegel asks about a work of art: “is the true effect…on the spectator one that makes at once for repose and energy, calmness and intensity, serenity and stir?”
Yes! This is why I love Jeff Langford’s photograph of the tower and spires of Parliament, silhouetted against the setting sun.
That great source of energy, the sun, has become more serene—a warm glow. The largest spire soars upward energetically as light comes through the windows. The lively, upward soaring of the many dark pinnacles with their intricate stone ornaments or crockets, are emphasized and also softened by the glowing light.
If we see how opposites are together beautifully in reality, as they are in this photograph—we feel Yes, this is what I want—this is how I want to see all of the time. And that is what happened to me.
—Anthony Romeo